Jude 20,21; Ephesians 6:18
But ye, beloved, building up yourselves on your most holy faith, praying in the Holy Ghost, keep yourselves in the love of God, looking for the mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ unto eternal life.
Praying always with all prayer and supplication in the Spirit.
H. A. IRONSIDE (1876-1951): Notice—we are to make our prayers and petitions “in the Spirit.” That admonition should cause many of us to consider the effectiveness of our prayer life.
WILLIAM GURNALL (1617-1679): What is it to pray “in the Spirit?”
CHARLES STANLEY (1821-1890): Sometimes we understand what a thing is, by looking at what it is not, or in contrast.
H. A. IRONSIDE: Some time ago I officiated at the funeral in California—I was told that the lady who had passed away had a number of friends given to the use of a gift that they called “speaking in tongues,” though it certainly was not that which the Bible refers to as the gift of tongues. They had a habit of going off into a semi-trance condition and uttering strange sounds.
C. H. SPURGEON (1834-1892): Brothers and Sisters, we need not judge those who pray unintelligible prayers, prayers in a foreign tongue, prayers which they do not understand. We know without a moment’s discussion of the question that the prayer which is not understood cannot be a prayer in the Spirit, for even the man’s own spirit does not enter into it—how then can the Spirit of God be there?
PHILIP MAURO (1859-1952): We believe that the modern error regarding tongues, as made prominent by those who call themselves “pentecostals,” is one of the most dangerous of these last days. Many true, earnest, and zealous children of God have been deluded by it…We have had it under observation from the start.
A. W. PINK (1886-1952): A certain Edward Irving,* founder of the “Catholic Apostolic Church,” propounded the theory that the supernatural gifts which existed in the early Church had been lost through the unbelief and carnality of its members, and that if there was a return to primitive order and purity, they would again be available. Accordingly, he appointed “apostles,” and “prophets” and “evangelists.” They claimed to speak in tongues, prophesy, interpret and work miracles. There is little doubt in our mind that this movement was inspired by Satan, and probably a certain amount of abnormal phenomena attended it, though much of it was explainable as issuing from a state of high nervous tension and hysteria. Irving’s theory, with some modifications, and some additions, has been popularized and promulgated by the more recent so-called “Pentecostal movement,” where a species of unintelligible jabbering and auto-suggestion is styled “speaking in tongues.”
A. W. TOZER (1897-1963): It has magnified one single gift above all others, and that one gift, as Paul said, was the least. Now that does not cause me to have great confidence in a movement that would do that. Then there is an unscriptural exhibition of that “gift,” which, incidentally, began in the United States about 1904.
JOHN CALVIN (1509-1564): There seems, as I lately observed, something monstrous in this determination to hold converse with God in sounds which fall without meaning from the tongue. Even if God did not declare His displeasure, nature herself, without a monitor, rejects it. Besides, it is easy to infer from the whole tenor of Scripture how deeply God abominates such an invention. As to the public prayers of the church, the words of Paul are clear―the unlearned cannot say Amen if the benediction is pronounced in an unknown tongue, 1 Corinthians 14:16. And this makes it the more strange, that those who first introduced this perverse practice had the effrontery to maintain that the very thing which Paul regards as ineffably absurd was conducive to the majesty of prayer.
C. H. SPURGEON: What does praying in the Holy Spirit mean?
H. A. IRONSIDE: Prayer “in the Spirit” is prayer in accordance with the mind of the indwelling Holy Spirit of God.
A. W. PINK: To “pray in the Spirit,” it follows that our prayers ought to be according to the Scriptures, seeing that He is their Author throughout. It equally follows that according to the measure in which the Word of Christ dwells in us “richly,” Colossians 3:16, or sparsely, the more or the less will our petitions be in harmony with the mind of the Spirit, for “out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaks,” Matthew 12:34. In proportion as we hide the Word in our hearts, and it cleanses, moulds and regulates our inner man, will our prayers be acceptable in God’s sight. Then shall we be able to say, as David did in another connection, “Of Thine own have we given Thee,” 1 Chronicles 29:14.
C. H. SPURGEON: Praying in the Holy Ghost is praying in fervency. Cold prayers ask the Lord not to hear them. Those who do not plead with fervency, plead not at all.
MATTHEW HENRY (1662-1714): Our prayers are most likely to prevail when we pray in the Holy Ghost—that is, under His guidance and influence, according to the rule of His word, with faith, fervency, and constant persevering importunity; this is praying in the Holy Ghost.
ALEXANDER MacLAREN (1826-1910): Yes, but that is not all.
C. H. SPURGEON: The word may be translated, “by the Holy Spirit,” or, “through the Holy Spirit,” as well as, “in the Holy Spirit.” And the phrase means, first, praying in the Holy Spirit’s power. The carnal mind knows nothing about this.
H. A. IRONSIDE: No unconverted person, of course, can pray in the Spirit, but there are even Christians who are in such a low carnal condition of soul that it is impossible for them to pray in the Spirit. I cannot pray in the Spirit if I am harbouring a grudge against my brother. I cannot pray in the Spirit if there is anyone I will not forgive because of some real or imagined wrong done to me. I cannot pray in the Spirit if I have a selfish motive, or if I am seeking merely my own glory or comfort. I cannot pray in the Spirit if I have a covetous heart—If I would pray in the Spirit, I must live in the Spirit, and so I am to watch against anything that would come into my life to grieve the Spirit of God and thus hinder real prayer…I can pray in the Spirit when I am living in the Spirit. Then He, the gracious third person of the Trinity who dwells in every believer, will guide my thoughts as I come to God in prayer.
C. H. SPURGEON: We know that the Divine Spirit, without the use of sounds, speaks in our hearts. We know that without an utterance which the ears can hear He can make our soul know His Presence and understand His meaning. He casts the spiritual shadow of His influence over us, colouring our thoughts and feelings according to His own design and will. It is a great spiritual fact which the Christian knows for certain that the Holy Spirit, the Divine Spirit, has frequent dealings with spiritual minds and imparts to them His power…Our spirit prays, but it is because it is overshadowed and filled with the power of the Holy Spirit.
JOHN ANGELL JAMES (1785-1869): Now, lean upon that Divine power which works in us both to will and to do. Live in the Spirit; walk in the Spirit; pray in the Spirit.
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*Editor’s Note: Edward Irving (1792-1834), called the “fore-runner of the charismatic movement,” founded his church in 1831.
